England v Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Lord's, 12-16 June, 2014

Zaltzman sums it up nicely, in many ways. Firstly:

Assuming Woakes is omitted from the selected XI, England will have three debutants (for the second consecutive Test), a player in his second Test, and another in his first Test since Tony Blair was still prime minister. They will have used 24 players in their past seven Tests, since the selectors started getting uncharacteristically funky at The Oval last summer. By contrast, they selected just 26 different players in the 48 previous Tests, dating back to the end of the Flintoff-Harmison era four years earlier.

Secondly:

Not only will there be five new or newish faces in the England line-up, you could have made a reasonable case for leaving out five of the remaining six on grounds of form.

Here are some of those statistical questions that England would like to see resolved:

Alastair Cook
Since Cook surgically demolished the rather insipid Sri Lankan tourists in 2011, in the aftermath of his megalithic 2010-11 Ashes, he has had just one good series out of 10 - his magnificent, series-shaping three-century effort in India late in 2012. Other than that, he has had seven series in which he has only reached 50 in one innings, and the two recent Ashes, in which he averaged 27.7 and 24.6, despite scoring three half-centuries in each rubber (his 24.6 average in Australia is the lowest series average by a batsman who has scored three fifties).

Ian Bell
Has had two good series in England's last nine, since his 2010 and 2011 golden period ended. His batting in last summer's Ashes was the pinnacle of his career, with hard and important runs scored under intense pressure, but aside from that, has averaged 30.6, scored at 38 per 100 balls, and reached 80 only once in 24 Tests since the start of 2012. He has averaged below 30 in five of those nine series.

Joe Root
Since his maiden hundred a year ago, scored fluently against a good New Zealand attack after England had made a poor first-innings start, he has passed 30 in just one first innings out of nine (68 at the Oval), and scored at a strike rate of 33. His two major Ashes contributions - 180 in victory at Lord's, and 87 in defeat in Adelaide - were both made in the second innings of matches that had been effectively decided by a mammoth first-innings lead. Root has much to prove about his Test credentials. The selectors have stuck by him in the short term, when a period re-finding and refining his game with Yorkshire might have done him long-term benefit.

Matt Prior
Has averaged under 20 in five of England's past eight Test series, and 17.6 in his last ten Tests. He had averaged 46.5 in his previous 55 Tests, since his recall in 2008-09, so unquestionably has earned some selectorial faith. Whether they needed to apply that faith now, rather than waiting for him to prove form and fitness, and taking the opportunity to examine one of the alternative glovemen in the Test arena, is open to question.

James Anderson
Twenty-six wickets at 42 in the nine Tests since his decisive 10-wicket performance at Trent Bridge that shaped last summer's Ashes. In mitigation, he had taken 177 at 25 in his previous 41 Tests. After a uncommonly lengthy break from the remorseless demands of the international circuit - Anderson has bowled more international overs in the past five years (2864) than anyone else - he looked fit and sharp in the one-dayers. However, his form was patchy in 2012 and 2012-13 (he was outstanding in India, but moderate against South Africa and in New Zealand), and England will want evidence that his Ashes decline was temporary.


To conclude, I think he's calling us a sack o' shite.

I mean, we knew all this, but it's nice to have it highlighted.

So Broad is the only player worth his place?

So it seems, and not for his batting. TBF to him, he's the only one that actually bowled OK on the entire tour. Following his pretty outstanding summer, I have to agree.

FWIW:

In Aus: 20 @ 27.5

Last 12 Tests(NZ here, Aus here, Aus there): 55 @ 25.

The day in the sporting calendar we've all been waiting months for. Finally we will discover whether the difficulties have been overcome, and the home team will show glimpses of past glories. The visitors will fancy their chances as well, though conditions will be less familiar to them... just the start of what promises to be a thrilling series of matches.

And the ECB were silly enough to schedule cricket on the same day...

Oh yeah, and well done to Belf on his Player of the Year award, given to him about 10 months after his last innings of note...

beamer wrote:Oh yeah, and well done to Belf on his Player of the Year award, given to him about 10 months after his last innings of note...

Hmm. Should have been Broad, surely? What's the qualifying period?

Aus FBers - is Foxy covering this series? Nothing showing on the Foxtel TV Guide - or is it a red button choice?

NFI.   Hopefully they do.

SuperSport channel 202 in SD and channel 212 for HD.

Foxtel couldnt be farqued buying the rights ...so no coverage

Google it ...there was a story about it last week in the online news

embee wrote:Foxtel couldnt be farqued buying the rights ...so no coverage

Google it ...there was a story about it last week in the online news

would have thought the market was big enough for there to be interest - given the huge number of ex pats here

the argument about the series being between SL and the poms and not involving Oz does not wash.

we happily watch the tennis through all hours of the night even tho it rarely involves Oz players beyond the first round...we will also watch the soccer world cup even tho our team is only there for comic relief in the first week or so

I see Jason Gillespie has attributed Liam Plunkett's revival to just keeping it simple: bowl as fast as you can, don't worry about going for runs.

There's no way the Alastair Cook book of structured negativity will allow for such freeform jazz, players just expressing themselves, so I'd imagine that Plunkett is likely to be 12th man tomorrow, not trusted until he can bowl steady line and length.

I can see England tinkering the f*ck out of his action and approach immediately and Steve Finn-ing him back to obscurity.

Linky to No pom v chuckers cricket on foxy

Dello wrote:I can see England tinkering the f*ck out of his action and approach immediately and Steve Finn-ing him back to obscurity.

Oh yeah, they'll ruin him alright. He'll be back to grimacing whilst repeating his action when walking back to his mark.

embee wrote:Foxtel couldnt be farqued buying the rights ...so no coverage

Google it ...there was a story about it last week in the online news

Choirs. Qunts.

Game got interesting.  14/4, Taylor on a hattrick.

Wrong thread. This one won't ever get interesting.

Eng batting line-up confirmed. Ballance, who has never batted higher than five in his career, at three. Bell, who has spent his whole England career talking up how much he wants to bat at three, bats four (at his request). Root - opener - at five. Moeen, county number three, comes in at six.

What a mess.

I love English selection behaviour and the laceration it deserves from Pommy FB'ers

Dello wrote:Eng batting line-up confirmed. Ballance, who has never batted higher than five in his career, at three. Bell, who has spent his whole England career talking up how much he wants to bat at three, bats four (at his request). Root - opener - at five. Moeen, county number three, comes in at six.

What a mess.

And you just know it'll work ...

Ballance is an old ball batsman. Making him face possibly the second delivery of a Test, when the middle order below him is made up of two number threes and an opener, it's almost as though they want him to fail.

Ian Bell's just the pits. He's spent his entire England career talking up his credentials to bat at three - his position - and how his ambition, even when he was down at six, was to work his way up the order to his spiritual home.

A couple of Tests there against Mitchell Johnson and he's pussied out and started moving himself back down the order. Classic Ian Ronaldo chickenshittery.

Gary Ballance is basically playing the role of the sacrificial lamb hamster. Why? You're all wondering. Because Ian Bell and Ian Bell II need protection. Poor darlings. But don't worry, they're really ruddy fantastic.

Green top, apparently. That'd be right, fatten up England's dobbery attack's averages so they can pretend they're the best bowlers in the world again.

Hopefully they'll lose the toss and be Kulashakara'd out for 38.

Heh - SL win the toss and bowl.